


Bruised

by 420Papyrus



Category: House M.D.
Genre: Cameron is a believer, Chase could care less, Fluff, House is slow, M/M, OFC - Freeform, Thief, Wilson is a smol bean, jenna - Freeform, mentions of abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-08
Updated: 2016-04-08
Packaged: 2018-06-01 01:55:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,740
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6496273
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/420Papyrus/pseuds/420Papyrus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Little short of House and Wilson, where House finally admits he just wants to make James happy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bruised

Wilson walked down the hall of Princeton-Plainsboro, in both hands juggling his own bag filled with files and such, a cup of coffee in the other and a file he’d been reading that morning tucked between his elbow and side. He pulled out his key as he approached the door, twisting it in the lock and pushing open the door. Upon seeing House he took in a breath and blew it out slowly, kicking the door shut behind him quietly. The man snired softly as he lay on the couch, his arm having fallen off and onto the floor where his palm brushed the soft carpet. His face held a peaceful expression that would otherwise never surface.  
Wilson set down his things and slumped into his chair, leaning back. His toes spun him gently side to side in the chair as a smile touched his lips, looking at House fondly. Deciding he would be questioned if he left the man to sleep, however, he picked up a handful of paperclips off his desk.  
One by one he threw them, either missing or hitting his arm without doing any damage. Finally he landed one on House’s cheek, it bounced onto the floor. The older man shifted but didn't stir, a low, short sigh interrupting his snoring.  
Wilson sighed loudly, waiting for his friend to move again or show signs of waking up. When he didn't stir anymore, he started to throw them again, he was frustrated when House still was sleeping as the handful he picked grew slim. He leaned over and took another few, considering the ten or so laying in his palm. Deciding to just launch the remaining few, he let them fly- most of which hit House’s face. The man twitched, paused, and shifted up a bit, eyes now open and scowling. He lifted a hand and plucked out a paperclip from his ear, examined it, then flicked it back at Wilson. It fell to the desk.  
He glanced around before his eyes found Wilson sitting in a swivel chair with a sheepish grin on his face. He brushed off some paperclips that stuck on his shirt as he sat up, “You know, it considered rude to wake old people up.”  
Wilson leaned back and just sipped on his coffee innocently.  
He cleared his throat before saying, “You're not that old.”  
House sat up on the couch and reached over for his cane, and in a sarcastically sweet voice he said, “Oh, you know just the right things to say to make me fall in love all over.”  
Wilson rolled his eyes as picked up a file, setting it down on the desk. “What are you doing in here anyways? Don't you have clinic duty?” He asked as he flipped through the file he had.  
“Hehe, you said duty,” House snickered sarcastically, glancing up at the younger man,”See, I’m young and stupid,”  
House grew silent as he saw Wilson wasn't amused as he reached into his pocket for his pills, he dry swallowed a few before asking, “That's not the real question here.”  
Wilson smiled weakly as he looked up from the file at his friend, “Really now? So what is?”  
House checked his watch, “Well, you're here almost two hours early, and you're never early. Always wanting to spend those last moments with your girlfriend,” House practically gagged at the word.  
Wilson froze and his smile melted off his face, he looked down at his file. “What are you talking about? I can't be early to work?” he stuttered as he flipped through the file again.  
“You can, but only when there’s trouble in paradise,” he replied evenly.  
House could tell he wasn't really reading it, his question hanging in the air, so he stood, leaning heavy on his cane as he swiped the thing shut, eyes cold as he stared down at James.  
“It’s nothing, I’m fine,” James sighed, though something like tension kept his voice tight and clipped- perhaps it was actually nervousness.  
“Two hours isn’t fine, Jimmy,” House crooned in a voice James knew to be demeaning.  
The younger man raised his gaze with a scowl,”Don’t call me that,”  
“You’ve been with this woman for less than a month, whatever this is should have ended the whole thing, so why are you clinging? Unless what she did was ‘for the greater good’.” House caught the waver in Wilson’s eyes and drove hard,”So that’s what it is, huh?”  
Another beat of silence. House eyed the coffee Wilson rubbed his thumb against the side of.  
“Where’s the muffin, Wilson? You always like having a muffin with coffee. You couldn't have forgotten, you had two whole hours to remember.”  
Wilson set his jaw and stood, headed to the door, eyes averted. House was faster, and he slammed his cane against the door.  
“Hey, you got ten bucks I could borrow?” House asked, rhetorical because he knew the answer.  
Wilson glared up at him, hands twisting into fists at his side.  
“House, get out,” James bit out, his thumb digging into the tip of his forefinger.  
House looked him over. One thing he always admitted was that he wasn't good with touchy-feely anything. Consoling was high on that list. Wilson stood before him, close to an outburst that Greg wasn’t sure he could handle. Not with Wilson.  
Deciding to leave him alone to deal with it, House gave the door one last push with his cane before resting it back on the floor,opening the wooden door, and walking out. The door slammed behind him.  
\--  
House bounced the ball against the wall once, twice, three times. The rhythm helped to slow his thoughts and think things through. Wilson really did ignore the worst in people sometimes, only wanting to see the good. He was naive, childish for believing that. Though, it had a certain appeal sometimes.  
He didn’t turn his head when the door opened, breathless voices and hurried footsteps placed to Cameron, Chase, and Foreman.  
“Wh-...What’s the emergency?” Cameron stammered, searching for something amiss with the man sitting in his chair, still calmly bouncing the tennis ball.  
“Say you have a spouse who, after no longer than a month, starts stealing from you.” House caught the ball and rolled his head over to look at them,”Would you still stay?”  
Chase shifted, tilting his head in confusion and thought. Cameron crossed her arms, looking as if she wanted to argue with him for scaring them all. She decided against it and shook her head,”No, a relationship is about trust and stealing breaks that.”  
“Chase?” House tossed him the ball as if that granted him permission to speak.  
Chase caught it and tossed it up again, considering as he played catch with himself. Finally holding it, he scratched his thumbnail against the side with a shrug,”I’d be mad, yeah, but I think it depends on what it was for.”  
House held up his hands for the ball to be tossed back, catching it shortly after from the Aussie.  
“Any helpful insight, Foreman?” House stood as he asked, picking up his cane and heading to the door.  
Expecting them to follow behind him, he pushed through the door and started towards Wilson's office, though his was unbeknownst to the rest of them.  
“I'm with Cameron, you shouldn't steal from a partner, period.” Foreman said, stepping alongside House as they walked.  
“Okay, added specific- you’re Wilson, and your girlfriend is stealing from you.” House said airily.  
Chase and Foreman shared a look,”Break up with her,” Foreman repeated.  
“What did she want it for?” Chase asked, still not wanting to jump to conclusions.  
“Dunno, let’s ask him.”  
House threw open the door to Wilson's office, and the man sitting behind the desk jolted up out of his seat, eyes panicked and nervous as he tried to register who it was. He eventually sighed and sat back down, rubbing his hands over his face.  
“Foreman says to break up with Jenna,” House said, sounding much like a spoiled child tattling on their sibling, though Wilson was sure he meant it to be that way.  
Wilson looked up at him for a brief moment,”House, please leave me alone and- and stop publicizing this?”  
“Um, House, we’re gonna go see if we can find a new case,” Cameron said timidly, stepping back from the office threshold.  
House had looked back at her, acknowledging the girl and making her squirm with a gaze similar to annoyance. He rolled his head back to Wilson,”I missed you for lunch, honey bunch, go home for-”  
Foreman had lingered a little, hoping to catch wind of the newest argument, Chase second and Cameron shuffling away, hoping to encourage their follow. When House stopped talking, they all hesitated.  
James swallowed uncomfortably, moving his hand down from the desk.  
House started to step forward, investigate what he’d undeniably seen, until he realized the lack of retreating footsteps. He scowled at the others as he slammed the door.  
House’s gaze remained on the door for a moment before he snapped his head over to Wilson, lips pursed.  
Taking a rather dramatic step forward, his head tilted as he paced the room.  
“Three hours for lunch seems a little,much, huh?” House mused.  
Wilson crossed his arms, turning sideways to the desk. His voice broke as he spoke,”House- please,”  
The rest of the team quickly agreed and shuffled out of the room“Arguing takes time, but not three hours, not when the victim just wants to forgive the other. You stayed because she followed you, you stayed that long because you couldn’t leave.”  
Wilson tried to curl in on himself, he pulled on his collar to cover his neck. It was subtle but House noticed it and hobbled over to his friend.  
He scoot away from the man as he rounded his desk, digging his toes against the floor to push away. House was faster once again and forced his chair towards himself, once closer up he saw purple crawl up Wilson's neck, a trail of red patches creeping around his wrists as well. He gently took Wilson's wrists and pulled them down, the man gave no fight he just let his shoulders slump as House pushed his collar down.  
House's eyes widened at what he saw, Wilson's neck was covered in purple and black bruises. He could immediately tell what they were from, and it seem Wilson knew as well, he didn't give a half assed excuse for them. House’s thumb brushed along a splotchy bruise lower on his chest, he unbuttoned it to see the rest. Beneath his touch Wilson trembled, willing himself not to pull away but wanting to do nothing else. House saw there were older ones as well.  
He looked down at Wilson's knuckles and saw they were unscathed, his friend didn't put up a fight with whoever was doing this to him. He looked back up at his friend, he cleared his throat before speaking gently. “You stayed...because you couldn’t fight someone you cared about ”  
The man stayed silent as he just looked at the ground besides House.  
House put his hand on his cheek and moved his face to look at his own. He started talking when he locked eyes with the man, “Wilson, how long has Jenna been doing this to you?”  
Wilson looked at his friend confused, “How did you know-?”  
House touched one on his collar bone, pushing only enough to have Wilson yelp, grabbing at House’s wrist.  
“They’re fresh, that’s how. The only person you’ve seen in the last couple hours is her,”  
Wilson grit his teeth, feet shifting as if he’d rather walk away. House decided to save him the trouble and let Wilson go, stepping back from him and out of the room.  
\--  
Jenna scrubbed her hands clean, getting the grit underneath her nails free and washing them of the dark material. She started sorting things back, little tubes of colored creams and dishes of powdered others. Brushes tucked into bags, still dusted of a familiar shade.  
She merely grinned as she zipped up one bag of larger brushes, hearing the front door open and slam. Setting the bag in a cabinet of the bathroom, she walked out to greet the only man she knew would come home so early. Well, to her home at least.  
House dropped his head, scathing eyes glaring at her.  
“House, right? I’ve heard lots about you,”  
She froze when she saw who it was standing in her living room. She cleared her throat, “House, what a surprise to see you here, mind telling me how you got in here?”  
House spun around when he heard her voice, he stared for a moment before he raised his hands. Dangling from his fingers was a pair of silver keys, “Easy to get keys when your friend is in pain.”  
Jenna gasped, “Wilson in pain? What happened?”  
House sneered at her, “Save it, I know what you've been doing so don't play innocent.”  
Jenna looked confused, “I don't know-”  
House cut her off with the raise of his hand, he tossed the keys to the couch. He limped to a picture frame on a nightstand next to couch, it was Wilson and Jenna smiling in front of a waterfall.  
“My visit on this day, you and I both know, isn't for my pleasure. I'm gonna be blunt- You don't deserve him.” He said, cocking his head smugly.  
Jenna raised an eyebrow, “Excuse me?”  
House looked back down at the photo, looking unusually caring. “Let me elaborate. Wilson deserves someone who cares about him, someone who loves him. Not a self serving bitch stealing his money.” House leaned on his cane, walking to the bathroom where he tugged open a drawer. Closed it, opened another, pulled out a pair of scissors. He looked at Jenna as he smacked the edge of the picture frame against the wall, the glass shattering with the force. The girl jumped, eyes wide in both awe and confusion.  
House slid the picture from the frame, letting it clatter to the floor.  
Once Jenna realized what he was going to do she ran forward to stop him, but House simply leaned back and caught her leg with his cane. She tripped and landed on her face, he looked down.  
“Wilson deserves to be happy, and you hurting him is not making him happy,”he paused, tipping back his head with a curious grin curling his lips,”Unless, you know, he is.”  
Jenna snickered into her palm, bringing houses gaze on her again, interest piqued. He continued, “But to me, he doesn't look happy and I want to fix that. So I'm cutting you out of the picture.”  
He smiled at his own joke and in one swipe he cut Jenna out of the picture, leaving a smiling Wilson. He took Jenna's half and crumpled it up, he tossed it down to the girl. He then leaned down slightly to loom over Jenna, in a menacing voice he said, “I want you to leave, by tomorrow would be preferable.”  
“Why do you think hed be better off with you? As least I listen to him, tell him I love him. You’re no more a selfish bitch than I am,”  
House scoffed, “I don't think I would be better for him, I want to see him smile and mean it. I would tell him but I think we'd just kill each other at one point. Wilson’s too good for anybody, even me.” House stood up and turned around, “But I know he'd be better off without someone like you, so, if you know what's good for ya, leave.”  
Suddenly Jenna started to laugh from below him, House turned back around and looked down at her, confused. “What are you laughing at? I just told you to leave or else,what can be funny about that?”  
Jenna got up and dusted herself off, her laugh subsided to giggles as she answered, “You two are adorable.”  
“What?” House asked.  
Jenna ignored House, instead it seemed like she was talking to somebody else, “Wilson, you owe me twenty bucks.”  
The line was silent for a few moments. House felt his stomach drop, watching her pull the wire and radio from her loose blouse.  
“House?”  
House twisted his grip on his cane, clearing his throat,”Wilson,”  
“I’m in my office,” he said softly, then it went silent again.  
Jenna lay on her back, hands behind her head and let her head roll to look at House, amused still.  
“Go get ‘em tiger.” she hummed.  
House turned, walking out of the room, the rhythmic tap of his cane accompanying his footsteps.  
\--  
House walked into the hospital, ignoring everyone who tried to stop and talk to him. He passed by his office, he looked in and saw his team, Cameron giving him a thumbs up and mouthed a ‘good luck’, Foreman merely raising an eyebrow as he hurried along.  
He just rolled his eyes, and continued on. He went as fast as his cane would let him, until he got closer to Wilson's office.  
He was in front of Wilson's door when he realized he didn't know what he'd say to his friend, House knew for awhile he had more then best friend feelings for Wilson. But he put them down as a ‘high school’ feeling and went on with his life, not knowing if his friend felt the same way.  
Now, he had a hand frozen in the air, unsure if he should knock or just walk away. He was still contemplating what to do when the door opened, Wilson walked out. Since he was looking down at a file he bumped straight into House, who was still as a statue.  
Wilson tilted his head up at House, eyes studying him,”Feeling alright?”  
House dropped his hand, looking Wilson over,”Fine. How are the bruises?” he asked, lifting his thumb to his lips. He licked the pad of his thumb and smeared it against Wilson's neck, the reddish coloring smearing along with it.  
Wilson made a face of disgust and wiped off the remnants of Houses spit on his neck. He grabbed the man's arm and tugged him into the office.  
House stood in the middle of the room, forcing himself to hold eye contact with Wilson but not sure what to do with himself. The younger man circled around to the other side of his desk, pulling a tissue from the box on his desk, dampening it with water and wiping at the splotches he could reach.  
“I was fully prepared to have a recording of Gregory House, the madman, yelling and shouting, maybe threatening that girl,” Wilson crumpled the tissue in his hand and tossed it out, then leaned forward, his palms on his desk as he looked at Greg,”It may have been going too far to pull this abuse crap, but it somehow managed to get us here,”  
Silence fell between them. Greg’s gaze finally fell, hand twisting on his cane nervously.  
“What do you-” Wilson stopped and shook his head,”Where do you expect to go with this? What am I supposed to do with all of this?”  
House remained quiet, eyes darting about, trying to look for anything else in the room to occupy him.  
“House,” Wilson started, once again rounding his desk and coming to lean on the front of it, arms crossed,”What do you want me to do here?”  
“I want you to get over yourself.” House suddenly snapped, finally raising his head to scowl at him,”I said that crap to get her to leave. I was helping you, not myself.”  
House scoffed,”I don't have time to listen some psychological, deeper meaning and waste the day proving you wrong,” He turned toward the door and opened it,”I’ll prove you wrong now, I don’t have any feel-”  
House stopped short, tugged back into the room by arms around his waist.  
“-ings...for you…”  
“Close the door.” Wilson said, gently, but deeply enough that House felt the rumble of his words in his chest.  
House was silent a moment, considering. He could still leave.  
“House,” Wilson hummed.  
House sighed and shut the door again, dropping his head down.  
“I wasn’t making fun. I had to test, you know that.” House felt the shift of Wilson’s hands and chest as he rest his forehead against Greg’s shoulder,”But the question still stands. What do you want to happen?”  
The silence stretched for what seemed like hours, the sound of their breathing the only thing in the room. Wilson began to pull away, feeling uncomfortable atmosphere, when House tentatively laid a hand over his own. His breath held, unsure still. Wilson smiled, and House breathed again.  
“I..” House sighed before continuing, “I want you to be happy.”  
Wilson squeezed House's hand, “What if I'm happy with you?”  
House snorted, “Do you know how sappy that sounds?”  
Wilson slapped him upside the head,“We were having a moment, and I was trying to be romantic!”  
House chuckled as he pulled the man into a hug and laid his head on top of Wilson's. “Yeah I know, and my answer is let's make you happy.”  
“Okay”, Wilson said, then he pulled out of the hug and kissed House's cheek. He then took his hand and started to pull him out the door.  
House half heartedly tugged back, he pulled Wilson suddenly, having him spin back around, catching House’s hip to steady himself, his other hand on his shoulder. House leaned down to rest his forehead against Wilson’s.  
“What's the rush? I was planning to do start happy times with you.”House let his hand fall lower,”Maybe somewhere else, but still,”  
Wilson pushed him off with a scoff, smile touching his lips, “Maybe later but right now me and Foreman have to give twenty bucks to Cameron and Jenna.”  
House raised an eyebrow, “Why?”  
The other man smiled sheepishly, “Well we may have placed a bet…”  
House looked offended, “What was the bet?”  
“Well, Cameron and Jenna bet you would confess your feelings, and me and Foreman bet you’d threaten Jenna.” Wilson replied.  
“I love the amount of faith you have in me,” House said sarcastically.  
“Shut up, House” Wilson said with a smile as he pulled House out the office with him.

Fin~


End file.
